This psalm draws together material from several psalms already covered — the exodus history of Psalm 135’s own near-neighbors, and the same mockery of idols already sung in Psalm 115. It reads almost like a deliberate summary hymn, gathering earlier praise into one final collection.
A study in Psalm 135 · Arthur Baldwin · StandUp4Jesus.Org · 12 min read
Praise Ye The Name Of The LORD
“Praise ye the LORD. Praise ye the name of the LORD; praise him, O ye servants of the LORD. Ye that stand in the house of the LORD, in the courts of the house of our God.”
Psalm 135:1-2
“Ye that stand in the house of the LORD” addresses the same night-serving priests already blessed in Which By Night Stand In The House Of The LORD — this psalm picks up its opening audience directly from the very last psalm of the pilgrim collection.
Israel For His Peculiar Treasure
“For the LORD hath chosen Jacob unto himself, and Israel for his peculiar treasure. For I know that the LORD is great, and that our Lord is above all gods.”
Psalm 135:4-5
“Peculiar treasure” describes something set apart specifically for its owner’s own personal enjoyment, not simply possessed but genuinely prized — the exact word Moses had already used of Israel in Exodus and Deuteronomy, centuries before this psalm was written.
“As a people we would make any sacrifice to save souls, or lead them to the truth. But to unite with them, to love the things that they love, and have friendship with the world, we dare not, for we should then be at enmity with God. By reading the following scriptures we shall see how God regarded ancient Israel: Psalm 135:4: ‘For the Lord hath chosen Jacob unto Himself, and Israel for His peculiar treasure.’”
Ellen G. White · Testimonies for the Church, vol. 1, p. 282
White quotes this exact verse addressing a real accusation — that God’s people are “too exclusive” — and distinguishes carefully between refusing friendship with the world’s values and refusing to actually reach the people caught inside them.
He Bringeth The Wind Out Of His Treasuries
“He causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh lightnings for the rain; he bringeth the wind out of his treasuries.”
Psalm 135:7
“His treasuries” pictures the wind as something deliberately stored and released, not a chaotic natural force operating independently — the same word already applied to Israel itself in verse 4 is now applied to the weather, both equally held and governed on purpose.
“Who smote great nations, and slew mighty kings; Sihon king of the Amorites, and Og king of Bashan, and all the kingdoms of Canaan: and gave their land for an heritage, an heritage unto Israel his people.”
Psalm 135:10-12
Naming Sihon and Og specifically, rather than speaking only generally about conquest, grounds this praise in actual remembered history — two real kings, two real battles, not simply a vague claim about long-ago victories.
The Idols Of The Heathen Are Silver And Gold
“The idols of the heathen are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. They have mouths, but they speak not; eyes have they, but they see not.”
Psalm 135:15-16
This entire section repeats, almost word for word, the same mockery already sung in Not Unto Us, O LORD — a deliberate echo, the same argument against idolatry apparently worth singing more than once across this collection of psalms.
“Bless the LORD, O house of Israel: bless the LORD, O house of Aaron: bless the LORD, O house of Levi: ye that fear the LORD, bless the LORD. Blessed be the LORD out of Zion, which dwelleth at Jerusalem. Praise ye the LORD.”
Psalm 135:19-21
The closing call, repeated across nation, priesthood, and tribe alike, echoes the same threefold structure already sung earlier in this collection — the same pattern returned to again and again, apparently because it captures something true worth stating exactly this way more than once.
